I went out to Wyandotte County State Park this weekend for a 5k event with Bronco (#9). He picked probably the toughest 5K course in the region as his first one, but at least everything from here on will seem easy in comparison. Another of my friends (#17) that I know through work decided to give it a go as well for his first event. Both of them did well and seemed to enjoy themselves, hopefully they will do more.
After the race I stayed at the park to get my training miles in. I was looking forward to running there again as I am running in a 50K there in two weeks, and figured it would be nice to have a refresher course of those trails. After a several miles, I was reminded how humbling they can be - especially since the majority of my miles have been on the road lately. After about 6 miles, I had to revert to fast-walking some of the steeper uphill sections. Despite the difficulty, I had a great time exploring the trails and navigating the rough terrain. I put in 20 miles by myself, plus the 5k for a total of 23.
I was also glad to work out some kinks in my shoes and equipment prior to the next race, which has resulted in me going on a minor spending spree for some much needed new gear - at least I have justified it as "much needed" in my own mind. I ordered some gaiters to keep out the massive amounts of debris that always collects in my shoes and socks, a new hydration belt system, and most importantly some new trail shoes. I really wanted to like my current trail shoes - North Face Rucky Chucks, gore-tex version - but they just don't fit my feet well. I have several sore spots on my feet directly related to the shoes after only 23 miles. They really didn't perform all that well in my last 50K either, but I tryed to ignore it because I liked other aspects of them. Oh well, I got probably 2/3 of their mileage out them. I can't wait to try out the new stuff.
No comments:
Post a Comment